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Wikipedia:WikiProject National Register of Historic Places/Resources

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This is page providing resources that editors can use to create articles about properties and districts listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Resources of national scope are given first, then by-state-and-territory reports of what resources are available, followed by useful resources for maintenance and other purposes. Also of interest is WP:NRHPMOS, a Style Guide guideline to be followed when creating articles under the scope of this project, and WP:NRHPFAQ, a list of frequently asked questions about the project.

General resources now available

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WikiProject Resource Exchange

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In 2022 at least, to obtain any published document, there is the "Resource Request" section of WikiProject Resource Exchange. Select "Click here to make a new request" button, at Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange/Resource Request. It's served by volunteers.

The Wikipedia Library

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You can do your own searching for journal articles, news articles and much more, without any requirement to sign up in advance. The Wikipedia Library: Browse partners shows lit searching resources available, including

  • Ebsco (or Ebscohost?, which seems to be what's searched if you just enter a search without selecting a specific resource),
  • ScienceDirect
  • Jstor
  • "Newspaper Archive" (a service comparable to Newspapers.com)
  • many more.

This is free to you with no sign-up, no special permissions required, just enter via this Wikipedia Library entry point, which provides a session token or something like that. Perhaps there's a limit how many people can be on at one time?

Newspapers.com

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This one does require application in advance of use. Go to "Apply here", although below it seems to mention your opening a (free) individual account at newspapers.com, first, before applying.

Denver library resources

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Denver's main library provides extensive services, perhaps to any U.S. person who opens an account. More info needed here; write what you know!

Resources of national scope on historic sites

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NRIS

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The NRHP stores information about sites listed on the Register in a database known as the National Register Information System (NRIS). There are several web resources which in effect are front-ends for querying this database, although the database also can be downloaded in its entirety from this National Park Service website, which several of our members have done. One member, User:Elkman, has downloaded the database and hosts it on his personal website so that project members can query the database without having to download it. The most commonly used tool on Elkman's site is the Infobox Creator, commonly known as the "Elkman NRHP infobox generator," which parses the database information into a detailed pre-fabricated NRHP infobox that can be used in new articles. To use the infobox generator, search for the name or reference number of the desired site. You can then cut-and-paste the infobox (and other useful information such as categories and draft NRHP document references and talk page material) into an article.

Although the NRIS is generally treated as a reliable source for information about sites listed on the Register, it, like any database of its size contains errors, many of which have been found and sorted out by project members on a set of "corrections needed" pages (which hopefully may someday be corrected in the database itself). There are occasional errors of several types: data entry errors in the database, original errors in the NRHP nomination documents from which the NRIS data is taken, extraction/presentation errors in the front-end used to query the database. These errors have appeared in listing/delisting dates, official names, locations, and other fields. Also, being a database rather than a written source, even the information provided without error is very limited. For example, NRIS does not distinguish between architects, contractors/builders, and engineers; it gives incomplete lists of architectural styles present in a listing; and gives dates which have often not been properly interpreted (e.g. NRIS identifies some as "circa" rather than definite dates, or gives date ranges, and sometimes provides multiple relevant dates which may include a date of a significant event other than the built date (e.g. William Frantz Elementary School, built in 1937, is given date of significance of 1960 for the school desegregation then). One popular front end interface to NRIS does not convey those distinctions, merely reporting the first date given.

The NRHP wikiproject strongly recommends including multiple sources in new (and existing) articles to verify/clarify the NRIS data. Any input error (except coordinate errors) found in NRIS data given by the Elkman generator or other means should be reported on NRIS info issues page under the appropriate heading. It is intended that these reports will be collected and forwarded to the NPS periodically.

NRHP listing codes (certification status codes) in NRIS for reference

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Over the years, it has been a pain sometimes trying to interpret what is meant in the NPS's weekly announcements of new listings and of changes. The codes are actually defined in a table within NRIS (the relational database which the NPS maintains). In 2022, "NATIONAL REGISTER INFORMATION TRACKING SYSTEM (NRIS) TERMINOLOGY" (found in NRIS database download page) and occasional weekly listings such as Weekly List 2022 08 12 give a key (table) defining some terms, as here:

Key to Prefix Codes:
AD - Additional documentation
BC - Boundary change (increase, decrease, or both)
FD - Federal DOE property under the Federal DOE project
FP - Federal DOE Project
MC - Multiple cover sheet
MP - Multiple nomination (a nomination under a multiple cover sheet)
MPS - Multiple Property Submission
MV - Move request
NL - NHL
OT - All other requests (appeal, removal, delisting, direct submission)
RS - Resubmission
SG - Single nomination

However, that key combines multiple types of status codes within "OT - All other requests", hardly a help for interpreting numerous codes that show up in NRIS and reports based upon it. For reference going forward, I quote from a 2010 wt:NRHP discussion which stated the definitions from within NRIS, and gave then-current frequency counts:

In the March 13, 2009 version of NRIS, counts of NRHP listings by certification status code are:
  • LI which means LISTED in the National Register : 84326
  • DR which means DATE RECEIVED/PENDING NOMINATION : 2466
  • RN which means REMOVED from National Register : 1560
  • DO which means DETERMINED ELIGIBLE/OWNER OBJECTION : 1051
  • DP which means DATE RECEIVED/PENDING OWNER OBJECTION : 124
  • RE which means REMOVED FROM ELIGIBLE LIST : 11
  • BD which means BOUNDARY DECREASE : 5
  • DD which means DETERMINED ELIGIBLE/DOE PROCESS : 2
  • DC which means DETERMINED ELIGIBLE/CERTIFIED DISTRICT : 1
  • NX which means NATIONAL LANDMARK STATUS REMOVED : 1
  • PM which means PROPERTY MOVED : 1
and there's one empty entry.
It's come up several times that items where code is DR were actually later fully NRHP-listed [without ever a listing announcement appearing in the NPS's sequence of weekly announcements --Doncram, 2022].
All the ones identified as RN are well-documented on the internet, erroneously, as being listed on the very date that they were in fact delisted. I think creating really short stub articles on these ones, by a real bot or otherwise, to get the accurate information out, would be helpful. --Doncram, 2010

To amend that last comment from 2010, in 2022, I think it would be helpful for the world if we had a definitive article (perhaps Formerly listed on the National Register of Historic Places?) about delistings with explanation of what they are, how misunderstandings are promoted by numerous on-line NRIS mirrors (naming them explicitly), and giving a list of all the NRHP places which have been delisted (more than 1560 by now). For many, we actually do have articles. For the other NRHP names, set up redirects to this article, so that persons searching within Wikipedia or searching elsewhere for a given place will have a chance to find out the real deal.

And, similarly, create an article, perhaps Determined Eligible for National Register of Historic Places, to explain about owner objections and other types of "Determined Eligible", and list all of those (more than 1051 + 2 + 1 by now). These are actually legally important: for example they have impact in government processes to choose a route for a new interstate highway. --Doncram, 2022

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The NRHP's "NPS Focus" system is a front end to query NRIS data which is provided by the NPS. In addition to providing data from NRIS, links to NRHP application documents in PDF format are included. The system will always show clickable links for the document and accompanying photo set for the place, whether or not those are actually available online. Clicking the links will often download a PDF file that merely states "The PDF file for this National Register record has not yet been digitized," in which case the documents are not available online at the expected place in the NPS system. This is often a false statement, because they may still be available elsewhere in the NPS system or from a state-level resource). In the case that the document is truly not available online, the document can be requested from the NRHP directly. See below for instructions on how to request these documents.

To use, go to the NPGallery search interface It may be referred to by its soft redirect "shortcut" wp:NPSfocus or wp:NPGallery. To find information about a listing, simply go to the Focus search site, type in the official NRHP name, select a geographic region if desired, and click Search. The site will return a list of NRHP listings from which you can select the appropriate link. In the past, according to an NPS Focus status report page, Focus contained a "skeletal record" for all properties listed in or before August 2012. All properties listed after then can be found in the weekly announcement listings.

Individual Wikipedia articles for NRHP properties and articles containing lists of properties will often include a clickable reference number that will open the NP Gallery listing for that property, including the summary information and links to the nomination form and associated photos, for example: (#09000817) or NRHP Reference # 09000817.

NRHP nomination forms

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Official National Register of Historic Places nomination documents are available in some form for all listings. It is highly recommended that every NRHP article use the official NRHP Inventory/Nomination document as a source about the listing. They often include primary research information including description of the condition of a property at the time the document was written and secondary research information about the historical importance of the place. They are provided by the Federal government but are often written by state or local government staff or by private consultants or other parties who have not transferred copyright. As such, they are generally not in the public domain, even though most U.S. Federal government works are. Unless they are prepared by Federal staff workers, the copyright is believed to be held by the author of the document. If they are public domain, you might include text from these documents directly without paraphrasing, but it is desirable in either case to summarize them and paraphrase for better article quality. The NRHP wikiproject generally treats public domain texts exactly like any other sources, except that quotes from them may be longer than would represent "fair use" of copyrighted material. It is always helpful to provide a link to public domain materials that are available on the web, either as an external link or as an explicit reference, just as it is helpful to link to copyright-protected materials. The NRHP nomination documents include information about the historical significance of a property, a brief description of the property, and can sometimes even include pictures or maps. About copyright limitations on photographs included in NRHP nominations, see #Images.

 
  Almost all nominations online at NPS Focus
  Almost all nominations online at state-level or other source
  Almost all nominations online, but require payment
  Some nominations online at state-level or other source

The map included to the right shows the availability of nomination files in the Focus database as well as in state-level resources. Most properties listed before September 2014 are available in the Focus database, except for those in the states listed below, according to this page (as of 1/2017). Most of their listing forms are available via the National Archives Catalog described below.

In addition, almost all NRHP nomination documents and accompanying pictures are in the Focus database for Multiple Property Submissions (more info here), National Historic Landmarks, and sites owned by the National Park Service. Sites that are listed as "Address restricted" (mainly archaeological sites) are not available in Focus due to sensitive location information but can be obtained according to the directions below, albeit with the location information redacted from the nomination copy.

Even if a nomination form is not available in Focus (and even if Focus reports that the form is "not yet digitized"), the NPS nonetheless will usually have a digital copy that they have not yet added to the database, and they will surely have a hard copy. These are available upon request from the NPS by email at nr_reference nps.gov. If the NPS does not have a digital form to send by email, a paper copy can be sent through the U.S. postal service. To obtain these documents, simply include your home address in the email, or you can send a letter to the following address:

National Register of Historic Places

National Park Service
1201 I St. NW
8th Floor (MS 2280)

Washington, DC 20005

In the email or letter, include the name of the property, county, state, NRHP reference number (if available), and the name of the Thematic Resource, Multiple Resource Area, or Multiple Property Submission (if applicable). There is a limit of two paper copies per request, but there is no such limit on email. If the site in question is address restricted, location information will be redacted from the form for security reasons.

National Archives catalog

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Shortcut

The National Archives and Records Administration provides scanned and OCR'd NRHP nomination documents for a growing number of states. These may be viewed online and downloaded to your own computer.

To use:

  • Usually the following should work, because usually you will have the NRHP reference number for the property (e.g. from the county list-article of NRHP listings): at https://catalog.archives.gov/registration (inexplicably, in December 2022, much faster to access than National Archives Catalog), enter the refnum into searchbox, then click the search icon (a magnifying class image) just to its right. Results should include the NRHP document; click on that, bringing up a screen with a viewer box that seems like it should include the document, but may be blank. What happens next is probably dependent on your browser, your computer/internet speed, and other factors. The viewer eventually should work, but you might have to leave it running for 10 minutes or so, with no indicator of progress going on. Alternatively, without waiting, you can download the document to your computer: click on the "download" icon (with a down-arrow in its image) below the userbox. Using Chrome browser on a reasonably new PC in 1/2017, this works okay, showing progress in terms of cumulative MB downloaded being reported (though no total filesize or percentage progress shows).
    • one shows indicator that waiting for "dts.gnpge.com" to respond
    • Other shows indicator that waiting for "upload.wikipedia..." to respond
  • Alternatively, you can try searching for a given NRHP property name (or fragment thereof), but depending on the uniqueness of the name there may be too many results to be useful.
  • If you don't have the NRHP reference number, you can still follow a process which reliably should get the desired document or establish that it is not available. To do so, search the relevant state-specific "finding aids". Using the Texas database as an example, jump to this starting point: National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: Texas (NAID 37250329). For a regular NRHP listing, find the "Texas Single Property Listings Finding Aid" document by scrolling down and click on that. It brings up a viewer window, which fairly promptly should show the finding aid document. In the viewer window-specific search (click on the magnifying glass icon within the viewer window) enter the NRHP property name and step through occurrences until you find it and its reference number. Then type the reference number into the main search box at upper left, and then hit the "search" icon. If the property is a National Historic Landmark, scroll to find the "Texas National Historic Landmarks Finding Aid" instead, and search within that. Multiple Property Submissions are listed in another finding aid document.

States for which listings appear to be completely available, excepting listings with restricted addresses (as of March 2019), are listed below.

Non-state geographies for which there are listings are also in progress:

To reference the NRHP document you have found, you need a permalink to the document, which is by use of the "National Archives Identifier" for the property. This is a different number than the NRHP reference number. E.g. for Muskegon Historic District, having reference number 72000647, the archives identifier is 25340169. You can see this number in the results from searching by the refnum. The NRHP document for that property is at permalink https://catalog.archives.gov/id/25340169. A model reference for cut-and-paste usage is:
<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite report|type=none|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/ |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: |publisher=National Archives |author= |date= | access-date=November 28, 2024 }} ({{NationalArchivesNote}})</ref>

[Note 1: The above sample reference uses a template, {{NationalArchivesNote}}, to provide a message that currently displays "Downloading may be slow." This message may be updated centrally and will revise what is displayed in all such references. The note seems helpful for readers, to warn them of oddly big filesize and/or oddly long downloading time.]
[Note 2: A number of references based on the NRHP document, when believing that permalinks to the National Archives versions were not available, were created by me (doncram) and perhaps other editors, using the following cut-and-paste-able model:
<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite report|type=none|url= |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: |publisher=National Archives |author= |date= | access-date=November 28, 2024 }} (accessible by searching within [https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972550 National Archives Catalog])</ref>
These should probably be searched out and replaced by permalinks. --doncram 17:54, 8 May 2017 (UTC)][reply]

SAH Archipedia

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  • A partnership of Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) and University of Virginia Press (UVA Press) now makes available their resources launched online in 2012 that "drew from content in the printed Buildings of the United States books (BUS)." As of October 2019, per this Curbed.Com article, apparently Archipedia is now 'open access' - which means that anybody can read it now (although note its text does not have an open license, so quote and credit appropriately). Parts of it had been open in the past, but it was complicated. Browse by states may be the best place to start on the site. They've got 28,651 articles on places as of October 2023 (mostly buildings, plus essays). There's overlap with NRHP and HABS sites but places are defined differently in each so it's hard to say how much overlap exactly.
  • General search there. You can browse by architect, by type (e.g. "fire stations", "cantilever bridges"), by style ("Hopewell", "Italo-Byzantine"), and by material ("art glass"), too. State-specific search links (and counts of articles available) are now available in each state's section of resources below. Coverage varies: Virginia has 2937 articles; Connecticut has just 16.
  • It may be added as just the link from "External links" in an article, or perhaps better put into a "Further reading" section, or even better integrated directly as a regular in-line source into our articles.
(This note adapted and expanded from contribution by Smallbones at wt:NRHP on 13 October 2019. --Doncram, 2019)

National Historic Landmarks

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Shortcuts

NHL committee docs

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NPS webpages about NHLs, including subpages:

NHL Summaries

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(requires updating)

The National Park Services NHL search site provides access to a webpage summary for every NHL site, including for archaeological sites where the NRHP text is not made available. This summary page includes a short statement of significance of site based on the NRHP text. The NHL webpage sometimes also includes current and past status information for sites that are threatened. This NHL webpage summary is usually authoritative on the official NHL name for the site, which may differ from the official NRHP listing name for the site shown in the NRIS system. When an NRHP site is also a NHL, the NHL name takes precedence in the title of the NRHP infobox of an article and usually the title of the article as well. This summary page is usually authoritative on the date of NHL designation, which should be added into the NRHP infobox of the article.

While these webpages and documents are usually accurate, some errors have been found in fields as critical as the reference number of the site, the site's name, and the site's NHL designation date. Some of the errors have been reported to the National Park Service and are under review. A working list of known or apparent errors with names of sites appears here. Any errors you find should be reported at that article as well.

Images

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  Free image sources for the United States
Source License Tag
Wikimedia Commons (Cat:United States) Various N/A
Historic American Buildings Survey ([1]) P.D. {{PD-USGov}}
Historic American Engineering Record ([2]) P.D. {{PD-USGov}}
Historic American Landscapes Survey P.D {{PD-USGov}}
National Park Service ([3] and [4]) P.D. {{PD-USGov-Interior-NPS}}
U.S. Coast Guard ([5]) P.D. {{PD-USGov-DHS-CG}}
Library of Congress - American Memory ([6]) P.D. {{LOC-image}}
Library of Congress - Prints and Photographs ([7]) P.D. (not all) {{LOC-image}}
NOAA ([8]) P.D. {{PD-USGov-DOC-NOAA}}
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ([9]) P.D. {{PD-USGov}}
Creative Commons (by,sa) on Flickr ([10]) C.C. {{cc-by-2.0}}{{cc-by-sa-2.0}}
U.S. Department of Agriculture ([11]) P.D. {{PD-USGov}}

Some National Park Service webpages include photos that are NPS-owned and are public domain. But the NPS is clear that it uses, with permission, some copyrighted pictures, and those do not go into the public domain just because the NPS uses them. The National Park Service copyright-related policy statement, at http://www.nps.gov/disclaimer.htm stated, under Ownership:

"Information presented on this website, unless otherwise indicated, is considered in the public domain. It may be distributed or copied as is permitted by the law. Not all information on this website has been created or is owned by the NPS. If you wish to use any non-NPS material, you must seek permission directly from the owning (or holding) sources."

(that was as of 2018 or so?)

And as of January 2023 there's a much longer statement there at http://www.nps.gov/disclaimer.htm which includes:

"Not all information or content on this website has been created or is owned by the NPS. Some content is protected by third party rights, such as copyright, trademark, rights of publicity, privacy, and contractual restrictions. The NPS endeavors to provide information that it possesses about the copyright status of the content and to identify any other terms and conditions that may apply to use of the content (such as, trademark, rights of privacy or publicity, donor restrictions, etc.); however, the NPS can offer no guarantee or assurance that all pertinent information is provided or that the information is correct in each circumstance. It is your responsibility to determine what permission(s) you need in order to use the content and, if necessary, to obtain such permission. If you have specific questions or information about content on the NPS websites, please contact the appropriate NPS park or program that is associated with the content."

In other words, many or most of the photos within the NPS Focus system, the NPGallery system, or otherwise in the NPS's larger website, are NOT public domain, and it is up to you to work it out with the actual copyright owner, to get them released under PD or CC-BY-SA to Commons (using the wp:VRT service to make arrangements), if you want to use them in Wikipedia.

It needs to be stated that the NPS has been downright unhelpful in their communication to the public about the copyright status of these. For one thing, the "disclaimer" does not come up when one accesses individual NRHP photosets at their individual URLs. E.g., for the Anthony Diebold House, there is a single-photo photo set available at https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/83002653_photos, which might look like it has been "published" by the Federal NPS and therefore is PD, but that is simply not so. Its status is governed by the faraway disclaimer.

And, worse, until some date in late 2009 or early 2010, there was an ERRONEOUS message in the NPS Focus computer system that states "Public domain" for all photographs, whether they are or not. That was later changed to show "Public access". Any photo that gives credit to a photographer, a state employee, or any other non-Federal organization is not in the public domain and thus cannot be used on Wikipedia without consent from the photographer. It is up to users, not the NPS, to check for copyright status of any photos. Any photo that is listed as being from the "National Register Collection", however, is believed to be owned by the NPS and thus in the public domain. Only images in the public domain (or another accepted license Click here for more information) may be added to articles. Any other images will be removed, sooner or later, from Commons and thereby from usage in Wikipedia.

The table to the right includes several alternative sources that may contain public domain images about NRHP listings.

To avoid any copyright problems, you may simply take photos yourself if you live or travel in the area of a property listed on the NRHP or request that other editors take pictures if they come in contact with them. If you or any other editor takes the photograph, the photographer has exclusive rights to the copyright status of the photograph and must release it into the public domain or release it under a different acceptable license in order to use it in a Wikipedia articles.

It is also possible that the images you need already exist on Wikipedia's partner site Wikimedia Commons. You can look through Commons:Category:National Register of Historic Places or categories specific to the state or region in which the NRHP listing is located to find useful images.

Courthouse photos

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The United States Department of Agriculture has a collection of 328 courthouse photographs taken by Calvin Beale. The Federal Judicial Center has nearly six hundred photographs of historic federal courthouses.

Other resources

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"NRHP.COM"

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National Register of Historic Places.COM is a private website mirroring the NRHP's NRIS database. It gives listings by state and division within state (counties, parishes, etc.). This is often referred to by the project as "NRHP.COM". It is known to contain systematic errors, however, such as giving areas of historic districts that are 10x larger than correct and including an erroneous listing date for properties that have actually been de-listed on that date. It is not recommended for use in Wikipedia citations, but can be a handy source for a site's reference number or other info.

Historic Places Database

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Another private source of information, also mostly a mirror to the NRIS database, is Historic Places Database. It may give listing as well as delisting dates.

Weekly announcement listings

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Every Friday, the National Park Service publishes a new weekly list outlining all actions on the National Register for the prior week(s), including additions, removals, boundary increases and decreases, additional documentation, approvals of multiple property submissions (MPS), determinations of eligibility, and designations of NHLs. The weekly list (and all previous lists) can be found here. Since July 2008, the weekly update has included one featured property, listed here.

If the listing date for the property is not known, a quick way to find it is to Google the name of the property and append "site:www.nps.gov". For example, when looking for information on Beth Hamedrash Hagadol, search Google for "Beth Hamedrash Hagadol" site:www.nps.gov, which turns up the relevant weekly announcement. For older NRHP listings (pre-1995), the announcements are in pdf format and thus not searchable. For these properties, you will have to manually search through the yearly listings.

Note: a real advantage of such searches is that they can turn up announcements of additional documentation packages provided for a site. Just searching NRIS and NPS Focus will not reveal the availability of these. To obtain them, you may have to request the additional documentation from the National Register directly. The additional documentation might or might not also appear in the PDF files for the site that might be available via the NPS Focus system.

There is an effort to transcribe (and thereby make searchable) the older Weekly Lists at WikiSource: wikisource:Category:Weekly List, National Register of Historic Places; many of them need a second pair of eyes for validation.

National Park Service Inventory

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The National Park Service has an inventory of historic park structures with pictures at List of Classified Structures.

GSA database

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Multiple resources regarding historic federal government buildings under General Services Administration management may be found at Historic Buildings, which can be searched and sorted by state, architect, and other attributes.

HABS and HAER and HALS

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The Historic American Buildings Survey, the Historic American Engineering Record, and the Historic American Landscape Survey provide photos and sometimes substantial text records for many sites that are NRHPs.

  • Rights and Restrictions Information for Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey Collection, including how to credit individual photos and how to credit collections, is provided at https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html.
Buildings of The United States

Published by the Society of Architectural Historians [12] through the Oxford University Press, the series is a long-term project to document American architecture on a state-by-state basis in a manner similar to Nikolaus Pevsner's The Buildings of England. The following volumes have been published as of mid-2017:

  • Alaska (1993), Colorado (1997), Delaware (2008), District of Columbia (1993), Hawaii (2011), Iowa (1993), Louisiana (2003), Massachusetts (Boston) (2009), Michigan (r.2012), Nevada (2000), North Dakota (2015), Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and eastern PA) (2010), Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh and western PA) (2010), Pittsburgh (2007), Rhode Island (2004), Savannah (2016), Texas (south, central, Gulf coast) (2013), Vermont (2014), Virginia (Tidewater and Piedmont) (2002), Virginia (Valley, Piedmont, Southside and Southwest) (2015), West Virginia (2004) and (Wisconsin (2017) Arkansas is expected in late 2017.

The older versions are available for under $10.00 used.

City directories and Sanborn maps

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Useful to find date ranges when a building existed, and occupations of residents, and about businesses, are historic city directories and Sanborn maps which may be found at libraries. In discussion about a Macon, Georgia NRHP listings, Krelnik used city directories in Macon, Georgia to determine what happened at one address of a NRHP-listed house (the house was rented in 1972–73, vacant in 1974, absent from listing in 1975–76, then replaced by a new medical building in 1977). Ancestry.Com's page "About U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995" describes: "Generally a city directory will contain an alphabetical list of citizens, listing the names of the heads of households, their addresses, and occupational information. Sometimes a wife's name will be listed in parentheses or italics following the husband's. Other helpful information might include death dates for individuals who had been listed in the previous year's directory, names of partners in firms, and forwarding addresses or post offices for people who had moved to another town." Bubba73 used such for genealogical research, i.e. looking up where a relative had lived. Krelnik commented "There were companies that published these directories for the various cities, the one that did Macon's was R.L. Polk but I suppose there were probably others. The best part of a city directory vis-a-vis a regular phone book is many (including Macon's) have a section organized by street & number, so you can look up what was at a location. Of course, the book is not going to tell you what type of building was at that address, just how it was being used. (So if a building was demolished and very quickly replaced, that might not be evident from city directories). Still, the name & number of the tenants or business can be useful - it can tell you how many apartments an old house was divided into, etc. Over on Solomon-Curd House the Macon directory revealed that it was being used by a business called "House of Hines" prior to its loss, and Googling that name quickly leads to stories about the house burning.

Sanborn maps, published periodically for fire insurance support purposes, likewise show buildings appearing and disappearing.

State and territory specific resources

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As stated above, there are many U.S. states in which almost all of the NRHP nomination documents are available through the Focus database. Also for some states there are state-level databases that include the documents, as well as other helpful information. The NRHP website includes this list of links to state and territory specific State Historic Preservations Offices (SHPOs). Other tools are listed below. Click on the desired state in the following index table to jump straight to available tools for that state.

Alabama – Alaska – American Samoa – Arizona – Arkansas – California – Colorado – Connecticut – Delaware – District of Columbia – Federated States of Micronesia – Florida – Georgia – Guam – Hawaii – Idaho – Illinois – Indiana – Iowa – Kansas – Kentucky – Louisiana – Maine – Marshall Islands – Maryland – Massachusetts – Michigan – Minnesota – Mississippi – Missouri – Montana – Nebraska – Nevada – New Hampshire – New Jersey – New Mexico – New York – North Carolina – North Dakota – Northern Marianas Islands – Ohio – Oklahoma – Oregon – Pennsylvania – Puerto Rico – Rhode Island – South Carolina – South Dakota – Tennessee – Texas – U.S. Minor Islands – U.S. Virgin Islands – Utah – Vermont – Virginia – Washington – West Virginia – Wisconsin – Wyoming


{{commons category-inline}} template - for property-specific Commons categories; add in the article's External link section

Alabama

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Alabama, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSAL

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Alaska

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Alaska, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSAK

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Arizona

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Arizona, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSAZ

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Arkansas

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Arkansas, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSAR
  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Arkansas
  • The state maintains a searchable database here which provides access to nomination forms for all non-restricted properties; address-restricted properties have a summary in place of the nomination form. A similar database exists for the Arkansas Register of Historic Places.
User:MB noted, on 2019-10-21, that several years ago, the forms for Arkansas moved
from: url=http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/!userfiles/XXnnnn.nr.pdf
to: url=http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/National-Register-Listings/PDF/XXnnnn.nr.pdf
MB was able to use AWB to go through about 2850 Arkansas articles and check/correct the url to the current location, finding 1100 articles with the old style url, so now we have 1100 more articles with working references to the nom form (in most cases, the only ref in the article except for NRIS). Great! --Doncram (talk) 07:00, 21 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
April 2021 update, the forms moved again:
from url=http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/National-Register-Listings/PDF/XXnnnn.nr.pdf
to url=https://www.arkansasheritage.com/docs/default-source/national-registry/XXnnnn-pdf
This was a little more difficult to fix because the filename part of the url changed, but they are working again. MB 03:02, 20 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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California

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on California, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSCA

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Colorado

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Colorado, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSCO

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Connecticut

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Connecticut, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSCT

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Delaware

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Delaware, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSDE

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District of Columbia

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on D.C., see wp:NRHPPROGRESSDC

<ref name=DCinventory2004>{{cite report|type=none |url=https://planning.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/op/publication/attachments/New%20Inventory%20Sep%202004%2003%2011.pdf |title=District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites |date=September 2004|publisher=DC Office of Planning |accessdate=November 28, 2024}}</ref>

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Florida

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Florida, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSFL

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Georgia

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Georgia, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSGA

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Hawaii

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Hawaii, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSHI

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Idaho

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Idaho, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSID

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Illinois

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Illinois, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSIL
  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Illinois
  • The National Archives Catalog has most nomination forms here (NAID 26457693).
  • This site, HARGIS, provides scanned copies of the NRHP text documents. Find a property by searching on its name or locating its marker on the map. On the map, NRHP-listed properties are marked with red triangles, while other categories of properties have other colors. Simply hover your cursor (making sure to select the hand-shaped tool in the top left) over a red triangle and click the "View Property Information Record" link. This will provide basic data about the site and likely a photo and a link to the nomination form. To search for a property with a query, start by clicking the binoculars at the top of the screen, immediately under the word "Information" in "Historic Architectural Resources Geographic Information System". This will provide a box with several different types of searches, ranging from the simple to the complex.

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Indiana

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Indiana, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSIN

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Iowa

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Iowa, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSIA

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Kansas

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Kansas, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSKS

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Kentucky

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Kentucky, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSKY

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Louisiana

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Louisiana, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSLA

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Maine

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Maine, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSME
  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Maine
  • NRHP nomination documents available online for almost all listings; see #NPS Focus above.
  • The National Archives Catalog has most nomination forms here (NAID 79352839).
  • The Maine Historical Preservation Commission website contains a list of properties "recently added" to the register. There is also an archive which lists sites listed after about 2005. The site contains only short summaries, no nomination documents.
  • Every Maine municipality is required to periodically produce a comprehensive master plan for the municipality. These documents often list the community's historic properties, and may provide more detailed addresses (and sometimes alternate names and current usage details) than are available from the NRHP. They should be available through the municipality's web site.

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Maryland

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Maryland, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSMD

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Massachusetts

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Massachusetts, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSMA

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Michigan

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Michigan, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSMI

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Minnesota

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Minnesota, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSMN
  1. ^ Nord, Mary Ann (2003). The National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota. Minnesota Historical Society. ISBN 0-87351-448-3.

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Mississippi

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Mississippi, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSMS

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Missouri

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Missouri, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSMO

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Montana

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Montana, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSMT

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Nebraska

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Nevada

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New Hampshire

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New Jersey

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New Mexico

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New York

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  • The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYSOPRHP) formerly provided scanned versions of the NRHP text documents, NRHP photos, and NRHP correspondence with owners of properties via the New York's State and National Registers of Historic Places Document Imaging Database. In February 2015, the NYSOPRHP launched the GIS based Cultural Resource Information System (NY-CRIS) which replaces the previous online resources. CRIS is a robust Geographic Information System program that provides access to New York State's vast historic and cultural resource databases and now digitized paper records including National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination Forms. User can access to more than 1.5 million pages of digital images including, National Register documents, building and archaeological inventory forms and survey reports and a wide variety of additional legacy data. In addition, the new system serves as an interactive portal for agencies, municipalities and others who use historic preservation programs, such as the State and Federal Income Tax Credits for Historic Properties, the State and National Registers of Historic Places Programs, the Sections 14.09 (NYSPRHPL) and 106 (NHPA) review processes, the Certified Local Government Program and building and archaeological survey programs.

Once in CRIS, National Register forms can be retrieved as follows:

  1. On the main page, click on Search
  2. Under the search Criteria tab, click on the National Register subtab
  3. Search for the Listing Name (note: NR Number in CRIS does not match the NPS NR number)
  4. Click on View (the magnifying glass) for the interested site
  5. With the specific site returned (National Register Project Details), click on the Atts. tab
  6. One of the attachments will be the scanned Nomination Form, click on the download icon to view the form
Issues with CRIS citations

User:pubdog confirmed with OPRHP the following when inquiring about a cross-reference for National Register information between the old and new portals:

From CRISHelp@parks.ny.gov, February 17, 2015

I consulted with other OPRHP staff, and they were unaware of the Document Imaging links used for NRHP listings on Wikipedia. Apparently, these were added to Wikipedia by people outside of OPRHP. We do not have plans to edit or maintain these links; however, other people are welcome to do so at their discretion. The URL format in your example (with the ViewDoc query) is probably the best way to link the files, though I am not aware of any plans to use these as permanent links [example used was for Kibler High School.
If you have further questions, please let us know!
Matthew W. Shepherd, MLIS
Digital Archive Program Assistant
New York State Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation

Therefore, users adding new citations or revising existing links should be aware that links to NRHP forms in NY-CRIS may not be persistent. I tried pulling up forms in Firefox, Internet Explorer (IE), and Chrome. In IE and Chrome, I was able to get a specific link to the registration form and photos; in Firefox I could not get the link to display.

With this, I propose the following citation to NRHP forms and photographs in the CRIS: 

<ref name="NysNrhpNom">
{{cite report|type=none
| url = https://cris.parks.ny.gov/
| title = "Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS)"
| publisher = [[New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation]]
| format = Searchable database
| accessdate = 2015-11-01
}} ''Note:'' This includes 
{{cite report|type=none
| url = https://cris.parks.ny.gov/Uploads/ViewDoc.aspx?mode=A&id=296325&q=false
| title = National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Central Avenue Historic District
| accessdate = 2015-11-01
| author = Hannah Beckman and Jennifer Walkowski
| format = PDF
| date=June 2014}}
 and [https://cris.parks.ny.gov/Uploads/ViewDoc.aspx?mode=A&id=296330&q=false ''Accompanying photographs'']</ref>

With the professed lack of persistent URLs there is a risk involved. Therefore, users may also need to access the NRHP registration form by searching CRIS. Depending on their purpose, they may want to become a registered user.

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North Carolina

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North Dakota

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Ohio

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  • A state-wide 1999 listing of NRHP places, the Ohio Historic Places Dictionary should be consulted and referenced if you get access to information on a given NRHP. Organized by county, then alphabetical. Preview access is seemingly randomized, so you might or might not get to the page you need; as well, some sites listed before 1999 are omitted without explanation, including a large chunk in the "L" counties. See usage in Harshaville Covered Bridge. Copy-paste and adapt (change at least the page number) the following reference:

<ref name=OHPD>{{cite report|type=none|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=YfvhVln0D20C&pg=GBS.PA419.w.1.2.0.1#v=onepage |title=Ohio Historic Places Dictionary, Volume 2 |date=1999 |publisher=Somerset Publishers, Inc.|editor=Lorrie K. Owen | accessdate=November 28, 2024 |page=3}}</ref>

  • The Ohio History Connection (formerly the Ohio Historical Society) provides very basic data (usually little or nothing more than the NRIS) and often a picture. Nomination forms in PDF are available, but a small price must be paid. Search for item at http://nr.ohpo.org/ or add the NRHP reference number at the end of the following url:
http://nr.ohpo.org/Details.aspx?refnum=
For example, http://nr.ohpo.org/Details.aspx?refnum=79001909

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Oklahoma

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Oregon

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  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Oregon
  • American Library Association, Oregon State Agency Databases
  • Oregon Encyclopedia
  • NRHP nomination documents available online for almost all listings; see #NPS Focus above.
  • The National Archives Catalog has most nomination forms here (NAID 76018483).
  • The Oregon Historic Sites Database has been completed, and includes links to scanned NRHP nomination documents (PDF format) for most listings. Most notably, nomination documents for "address restricted" listings have been systematically excluded, although database records for those listings are present. The database also includes records for a large number of historic properties that are not listed on the national register, as well as individual records for historic district contributing properties. Scanned PDF documents from other (non-NRHP) historic surveys are also present for many records.
  • Full PDF nomination documents/photos and HTML summaries for the most recent listings in the state are here — in principle this page covers the most recent 6 months, though this time span varies with the availability of SHPO staff time to maintain the page. The HTML summaries can be useful editorial guides, but care should be taken in using them as citations in articles: after the listings are cycled off the page, the HTML summaries are no longer generally available. When citing the PDF nomination documents by URL, use the URL from either NPS Focus or the Oregon Historic Sites Database rather than the URL used on the recent nominations page; similar to the HTML summaries, the recent nominations URL becomes invalid after the listing is cycled off the page.
  • See also:

Pennsylvania

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Shortcuts
  • The Cultural Resources Geographic Information System (CRGIS), which replaced the ARCH database, provides scanned copies of NRHP documents. Large amounts of data are available with the guest password and account provided by the site. To use the system at all seems to require that you install an Adobe SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) Viewer software on your computer. If/when it is working for you, the fastest way to find sites in the CRGIS system is to use the "Ask REGIS" feature to either search by county, name, architect, historic function, etc. In at least some cases such as for Northumberland Historic District, the scanning is incomplete (deliberately?).
Step-by-step tips for using CRGIS:
  1. Use Microsoft Internet Explorer (not Mozilla Firefox) as browser.
  2. Go to start screen at https://www.dot7.state.pa.us/ce/SelectWelcome.asp
  3. Scroll down to "To get started, click on the CRGIS logo". Click on it.
  4. At "CRGIS Welcome and Login" page, note the instructions are to use "Public" and "Public" as userid and password. Note also that it notes "Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or greater is required", that "An ActiveX control is used to build maps. Click here to see if you have it installed on your machine", that "It is recommended that your screen resolution be set to 1024 x 768 or better" and that "Popup boxes are extensively used on this site. Your browser MUST be configured to accept popup boxes for CRGIS to be able to function." Click on "Login".
  5. It may be that nothing happens. Going back one step and checking on the ActiveX control may reveal that ActiveX is not installed on your PC, but you may be given no directions where you can get it. (Can any other editor help improve the instructions here? At what URL could one try to get the needed ActiveX control? )
  6. You may be confronted with a message requesting that a page be closed, which you may just say No to.
  7. In the login process, give "Public" and "Public" as userid and password where needed. Accept terms for use.
  8. In the "Cultural Resources GIS" page in a new window that pops up, scroll down to "Ask REGis" button. Click on it.
  9. In yet another new popup window, you may search for specific properties. You could select "Where?" or "When?" to find properties by county or otherwise, but probably selecting "What else?" works quickest for finding a given place. In the screen that pops up, select "Historic name" from the pulldown menu and enter part of the name of the place, so it will implement a search on "where historic name includes" namepart. You can use the second field to specify only NRHP sites (useful as the CRGIS system also includes most Eligible-but-not-listed and also Ineligible buildings) by clicking "National Register Status" and then clicking "Listed".
  10. When finished, click "Search Now" and results should appear. Clicking or double-clicking on a result will bring up another popup where the link to the nomination form, as well other relevant documents, can be found. (Note, selecting individual entries by using the checkbox, and then selecting "Map Selected" above will bring up a map, but will not bring you to the documents.) For example, the results window for "Bailey Covered Bridge" in Washington County, Pennsylvania provides a link to NR form "H050859_01H.pdf".
  11. Click on the NR form link, to bring up an Adobe Acrobat window showing the PDF document. The URL of the specific document appears and can be used in Wikipedia references.
  12. To do another search, you have to click the "Search For" tab (the browser's "Back" button doesn't work here).
Formatting of references for documents that were available at Pennsylvania's ARCH system

For Cogan House Covered Bridge, its ARCH footnote includes an accessdate but note the NRHP document it includes is itself undated (because no date appears in the document),[1]

For Worlds End State Park, the ARCH footnote includes a Pennsylvania doc rather than one on NRHP form, and there is a document date.[2]

For Millersburg Ferry, the ARCH footnote includes 3 PDF files (one NRHP text and two accompanying maps).[3]

References

  1. ^ "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). ARCH: Pennsylvania's Historic Architecture & Archaeology. Retrieved 2007-10-15. Note: This includes Susan M. Zacher, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Cogan House Covered Bridge" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-10-15.
  2. ^ "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). ARCH: Pennsylvania's Historic Architecture & Archaeology. Retrieved 2008-05-10. Note: This includes John Milner Associates (1986). "Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form: Worlds End State Park: Family Cabin District" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-05-10.
  3. ^ "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). ARCH: Pennsylvania's Historic Architecture & Archaeology. Retrieved 2008-06-11. Note: This includes Annette Gunyuzlu / Millersburg Ferry Boat Association (2006). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Millersburg Ferry / Kramer-Crow Ferry" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-06-11., "Map: Millersburg Ferry, Millersburg Quadrangle" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-06-11., and "Map: Millersburg Ferry" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-06-11.

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Puerto Rico

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Rhode Island

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South Carolina

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South Dakota

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  • A source about many South Dakota architects is:[1]

References

  1. ^ Stephen C. Rogers; Jennifer L. Littlefield (Winter 2007). "The Architect Biography Files at the South Dakota State Historie Preservation Office" (PDF). Dakota Resources. Retrieved August 3, 2019.

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Tennessee

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Texas

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More specifically
1. look up your NRHP doc at Texas Historic Sites Atlas (search on the NRHP listing name, or drill down within the county of interest), keep clicking in the results until you bring up the desired NRHP document. It will be under "Files" tab.
2. copy-paste the following draft reference into your article:

<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite report|type=none|url= |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: |publisher=Texas Historical Commission |author= |date= |accessdate=November 28, 2024}}</ref>

3. copy-paste the URL of the NRHP doc into your reference, and otherwise customize the reference, including putting in the title of the listing. You still have to look up the authors and date of prep in section 11 of the NRHP doc.
[Perhaps obsolete:] That should be all you need to do. In the past, though, some of these documents were really really slow to load. You can indicate a warning to readers (currently as follows):

{{TexasHistoricalCommissionNote}}
using Template:TexasHistoricalCommissionNote, as in:

<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite report|type=none|url= |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: |publisher=Texas Historical Commission |author= |date= |accessdate=November 28, 2024}} {{t|TexasHistoricalCommissionNote}}</ref>

This is an example edit adding embedded NRHP infobox and THC reference and other info, for a new 2018 listing, into an existing Texas building article.

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Utah

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Vermont

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Virginia

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Shortcuts
  • NRHP nomination PDFs and other materials are available, by county and independent city, for most all (but not archeological site ones) at the Virginia Landmarks Registry here. These often include a full NRHP nomination document, a webpage of accompanying photos, and sometimes a webpage with one or more maps. All their sites are listed in their Register Master List, which is useful sometimes for establishing which city or county an archeological site is located in, for sure. Such materials may be referenced by copy-pasting and adapting:

<ref name=nrhpdocVAdhr>{{cite report|type=none|url=__ |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: __ |author=__ |date=__ |publisher=Virginia Department of Historic Resources}} and [__ accompanying photos] and [__ accompanying map]</ref>

  • The National Archives Catalog has most nomination forms here (NAID 40571316).
  • It has been noted wt:NRHP that "recent Virginia nominations are typically available from the DHR web site, but are not always obviously locatable by navigation of the site. They seem to be published as part of the agendas for SHPO-related meetings. If you want to see the nomination for a recent listing, search Google using keywords from the name, restricting the search to site:dhr.virginia.gov." However, it was further noted that "The problem is that they actively take down those ones after a while."
  • Library of Congress Virginia State Guide
  • SAH Archipedia's articles on Virginia sites (2937 as of 10/2019)

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Washington

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  • NRHP nomination documents available online for almost all listings; see #NPS Focus above.
  • The National Archives Catalog has most nomination forms here (NAID 74615694).
  • The WISAARD GIS system provides a database, including PDFs of nominations. It only works with Internet Explorer and requires that pop-ups be enabled. Use full-screen display to ensure you can see the search field at top left in map and resource interfaces. The default interface is clunky and requires a lot of zooming (Q: but how do you zoom at all?); it works if you're patient and have some idea of Washington geography and the site you're looking for. Selecting "Resource" instead of "Map" allows you to search more normally: hovering cursor over "Resource" opens a smallish window with a "Go to resource" search field open at the bottom. Enter the property name there. At the resulting page on the given property, click on "Documents and images" at the left, which brings up the first image available. Scroll down to see thumbnails of other images and possibly a PDF icon for a National Register registration document. To open the document, you have to click in the top right part of it (where hovering displays "Click to open full size attachment". The document, once brought up, has a permanent url which can be referenced from outside the system and using other browsers. So, for example, a reference for use in an NRHP article like the following can be constructed: <ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite report|type=none|url=https://fortress.wa.gov/dahp/wisaardp3/api/api/resultgroup/187185/doc/1466125895279|title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: First Methodist Episcopal Church / First United Methodist Church / Daniels Hall|publisher=Washington State|accessdate=November 28, 2024|author=Katheryn H. Krafft |date=July 2010}} (includes 40 photos)</ref>.

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West Virginia

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Wisconsin

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Wyoming

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For statistics on wp:NRHP's progress on Wyoming, see wp:NRHPPROGRESSWY

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Architects, builders, engineers, artists help

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Numerous NRHP-listed places were listed in fact for being good examples of the work of architects significant in their locality, region, or state, and the place articles are enhanced by creating linked articles about the architects themselves. Builders and engineers have sometimes had similar importance, and less often artists including sculptors. Lists of their works including with indications for all NRHP-listed ones are naturally included in those articles. Some persons, particularly in pioneer times, are significant both as builders and architects. By 2013, this WikiProject had created articles for each such person who was by then known to be associated with five or more NRHP places, but more of these persons are in fact significant.

These were long included in mainspace categories Category:NRHP architects, Category:NRHP builders, Category:NRHP engineers (with also just a few in Category:NRHP artists) but the categories were deleted by an MFD decision in November 2018 (Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2018 November 13#NRHP occupations. The current contents of each were then recorded, i.e. 1062 architects, 126 builders, 31 engineers, and two artists were listed out.

The categories should be recreated as Talk-page "tracking categories", as part of {{WikiProject NRHP}} Talk-page banner, using parameters "architect=yes", "builder=yes", "engineer=yes", and/or "artist=yes". Some of the existing articles and some new ones have been coded that way since. As of August 2019, however, the needed adjustments to the template to make categories appear have not yet been made.

Most of these should be included into WikiProject Biography with parameters "living=no" and "listas=LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME". State-specific requests for photographs of people, e.g. {{reqphoto|people of Minnesota}}, should usually be included in Talk pages for these persons.

Photos help

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Probably there are several things that a new or average NRHP wikiproject editor/photographer could usefully learn about getting and handling photos.

Fixing Commons names and descriptions of photos

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It is sometimes an issue that a photo has been uploaded to Commons and is used in articles, but it turns out it depicts something else. This happens for good reasons, especially when the NRHP nomination document and photos aren't or weren't available to the photographer.

If you figure out that a photo is wrong, you can directly edit the photo description yourself, and you can remove it from NRHP categories. The name of the photo may need to be changed, but that can only be done by a Commons administrator or certain others who have requested renaming privileges. c:COM:RENAME covers this. It includes that you may place a request on the file description page as follows:

{{Rename|required newname.ext|required rationale number|reason=required text reason}}

The "required rational number" should be "3" for a misidentified object, per table at c:Commons:RENAME

For example, a recent request about a photo uploaded in 2010, long before NRHP documents were available online, is here:

{{Rename|Building in Hillsboro New Mexico.jpg|3|reason=The photo was incorrectly believed to the [[w:Alert-Hatcher Building]], but [https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/95000460_text NRHP nomination text] and [https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/95000460_photos accompanying photos] make clear this is not it. The Alert-Hatcher building continues to exist and can be seen in Google streetview, while I cannot find the pictured building anywhere nearby.}}

In practice these rename requests are handled within a day or so, and if you are informed and certain of what needs to be done, there usually should be no problem.

Geographic help

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  • Map locator - {{Location map}}
  • Topozone - for finding lat/long of various places
  • Coordinates conversion: to convert between Degrees-Minutes-Seconds format vs. Decimal format here is one tool.

Coordinates issues

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North American Datum shift between NAD27 and NAD83

Coordinates returned by the NRIS may not always be spot on. In many cases, coordinates of NRHP listings were traced out on old U.S. Geological Survey quadrant maps which still followed the North American Datum of 1927. In 1983 there was a world-wide adjustment of all geographic coordinates, to the current system used now by all current geolocation and maps providers. This shift changed coordinates in a majority of the U.S.; only the area near Chicago was unchanged. Older NRHP listings' coordinates are more than likely a bit off, with the error increasing the farther one travels from Chicago. Newer nominations are more often be more accurate.

While many coordinates issues can be traced to the above shift, there are sometimes outright typos or other errors in coordinates that appear in NRIS. Coordinates for historic districts or plantations or other large properties are often at a calculated geocenter of the corner points of the area, when pointing to the main plantation house may be more desirable. The project welcomes corrections of NRIS coordinates, but our members do not actively collect reports of these issues. All other errors in NRIS data should be brought up here.

These links may help you identify correct coordinates to include into the infobox:

  • 1a. If a street address is available, use Google maps to bring up a satellite view of the property.
  • 1b. Or use this UTM coordinates converter to latitude&longitude to get approximate location based on UTM info in the NRHP registration document. Enter degrees-minutes-seconds coordinates into infobox fields and save article. Then bring the Google satellite view up by clicking on those coordinates in this article.
  • 2. Zero in on exact building in satellite view. Right-click, then select "What's here?". Copy-paste coordinates shown.
  • 3. Revise the article's coordinates to the geolocator's more precise coordinates.

Mapping NRHP locations before your road trip

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The "map of all coordinates" feature within all NRHP list-articles should be a help in finding locations and planning any road trip to get photos or otherwise appreciate NRHP-listed places. However, in 2018 smartphone/internet coverage doesn't extend to most rural areas. One trick is to set a route using Google Maps or another service going to a remotely located NRHP, when you are still in a location with internet access. This will still work in your smartphone even when outside phone service areas, because apparently the smartphone is informed of your GPS location by different GPS transmission means. It holds even if the smartphone goes into "sleep" mode, but if you try to search for another location while still out of phone/internet coverage area you will lose your information.

For multiple-site treks, it can be worthwhile to mark up a printed road map atlas with NRHP locations (in other words, use a "pencil" upon what is termed "paper", can you believe that?).

For the more serious paper-phobic editors, it's also feasible to use Google My Maps or perhaps other custom map services. In late 2018, User:Magicpiano reported on doing this for some long road trips. It involves downloading KML files from the "map of all coordinates" of multiple list-articles into your laptop (or smartphone?).

Tools to install

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You can change how your Wikipedia account works in some ways by changing your user preferences (click on "Preferences", which will be at your upper right if your account uses the default "Vector" appearance/"skin"). There are a couple files which control how your account works with javascripts, however, that are separate. These depend on your vector.js file and/or your common.js file. These files may be found if you go to your userpage and click on "Subpages" (at left, under "Tools") and scroll to the end. Hmm, maybe "Subpages" is a tool itself which depends upon your having the following line in your commons.js file:

mw.util.addPortletLink ('p-tb', wgServer+wgArticlePath.replace("$1", "Special:PrefixIndex/"+mw.config.values.wgPageName+"/"), 'Subpages');

Well, for another way to see your common.js file you can just go to User:USERNAME/common.js (but change "USERNAME" to your own username). Or you can get to it via "preferences" (see below under "Measuring Tool"). To see the other, go to User:USERNAME/vector.js (but change "USERNAME} to your own username).

Per Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 152#common.js vs vector.js, it doesn't matter where they are if you always use the vector appearance/skin. But scripts which work in any appearance/skin can be put into your common.js file. Scripts which work only in the vector skin are best put into the vector.js file.

NRHP stats reading

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To get access to yellow boxes which show "NRHP Progress" stats, add the following lines to the end of your vector.js file:

var NRHPstatsAuto = 'false'; // per wt:NRHPPROGRESS#Untagged articles, line 1 of 2
importScript('User:Dudemanfellabra/NRHPstats.js'); // per wt:NRHPPROGRESS#Untagged articles, line 2 of 2

The tool seems to work reliably when using Microsoft Edge browser but not in Chrome browser. However it is usually necessary to "purge" a given list-article page to get the yellow boxes to show. One way purging can be done is by clicking a clock at top right in your browser, if you set up this clock by Preferences (under Gadgets, under Appearance, "Add a clock to the personal toolbar that displays the current time in UTC and provides a link to purge the current page" ...clicking on the time-clock does a purge.

See discussion at wt:NRHPPROGRESS.

Update, September 2018: Magicpiano's version reportedly works more reliably, possibly "having to do with changes in Javascript that have deprecated some of [Dudemanfellabra's] usages" this note at wt:NRHP, so try, instead:

importScript('User:Magicpiano/NRBot/NRHPstats.js');

Measuring tool

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(adapted from Wikipedia:WikiProject North America/The North America Destubathon)

You can check size of articles using this tool To do so you would program the common.js in your preferences to contain: 

importScript('User:Dr_pda/prosesize.js');                // User:Dr pda/prosesize

Instructions:

  1. Go into your preferences, and click the "appearance" tab;
  2. Where it says "Shared CSS/JavaScript for all skins:", click "custom javascript" (this brings you to your common.js file)
  3. Paste the command given above into that and save.
  4. Now approach an article and look in the tools section on the left. You should see "Page size". Click that for each article and you'll quickly get a reading without having to paste text all of the time and look externally.
  5. Look out for where it says, for example: "Prose size (text only): 1684 B (289 words) "readable prose size" ".

Tools, other useful links, and editing tips

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Convert "NNNN"

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Area convert template using "NNNN" is allowable, displays nothing: {{convert|NNNN|acre|ha}} displays as " "! And can be changed to something like {{convert|13.7|acre|ha}}, to display as 13.7 acres (5.5 ha), or {{convert|1370|acre|km2}}, to display as 1,370 acres (5.5 km2).

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New NRHP articles with architectural terms get picked up automatically in template:WikiProject Architecture Bulletin for several days. So if you click "What links here" to go back and forth to associated articles, such as county list-article or architect articles, there are tons of links from User talk pages to wade through. No problem: just restrict the search by pulling down the menu in the Namespace box, and selecting "(Article)" namespace. Then there will be only a few inbound links. Thanks User:WOSlinker for the tip! --Doncram (talk) 00:38, 4 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Using two windows to generate an article

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Everyone works out on their own what process works best for themself, but they might not get all the best information, and here's one approach that is pretty comprehensive and convenient for at least one editor. The idea is to exploit what the "Elkman NRHP infobox generator" has to offer, and also capture any improved coordinates and photo and anything else developed at the NRHP county list-article already.

First, use the infobox generator provided editor User:Elkman, which generates a draft NRHP article with NRHP infobox mostly filled out. It is easier to start with, compared to copy-pasting and editing the infobox from another article. It even includes a draft NRHP document reference, also partly filled out. It also provides a copy-paste-ready draft Talk page with the relevant Wikiprojects. There are some limitations:

  • it only works for NRHPs listed before some date in 2014;
  • it works for NRHPs in most but not all states (it works almost always for Idaho);
  • it still requires your attention to add author and preparation date to NRHP document reference;
  • it does still require you to verify that the photos exist (not always available) and I like to further customize the draft photos link with that by mentioning the number and date of photos
  • if it provides coordinates, those are not labelled as to source, and may be lower quality than coordinates developed already at the corresponding NRHP county list-article
    • If county list-article's coordinates differ, use those instead (they have been improved/verified by a Wikipedia editor who should be trusted over NRIS, whose coordinates are often a bit off or even very far off), and mark their source as "source:NOTNRIS2013a". This avoids future checking.
    • If county list-article's coordinates are same, mark the source as "source:NRIS2013a". This facilitates future improvement.
  • there are a few omissions or typos which you have to correct manually. These are pretty minor:
    • It often omits STATE so that the map will display, even if it provides coordinates, so change "| locmapin =" to "| locmapin = Idaho" or the like
    • For articles in Georgia (U.S. state), it gets categories slightly wrong, adding "(U.S. state)" or not adding that, when not needed or vice versa
    • It fails to put in, for historic district articles, "[[Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in STATE]]"

Note while you can get an NRHP document different ways (see elsewhere on this NHRP HELP page), sometimes by searching at the National Park Service or just by googling it. But often then you won't get the photos document, if it is separate. It is usually better to conveniently access both the specific text document and photos by following a link from the NRHP infobox generator.

Now, some will find this recipe to be too much detail, but note it does accomplish a lot pretty conveniently, if you actually follow it: What I do is keep open one window (window 1) for editing the Wikipedia article perhaps focused on the NRHP county list-article at first, and a second window (window 2) to the Elkman infobox generator site. In the infobox generator I search for the specific site. Then I copy any info such as coordinates or description (sometimes available) from the NRHP county list-article, pasting that into the infobox generator, effectively as stray extra text for the moment. Also I transfer over any photo. Then in window 2 I load up the draft article by Ctrl-A Ctrl-C of the entire infobox generator contents, then I hit the link from the infobox generator to the actual NRHP documents (at NPS). In window 1, I start the article itself by clicking on the redlink for the specific site, and then I paste in the draft by Ctrl-V. Then I edit for a bit. One thing i focus on is the coordinates. The infobox generator may have supplied coordinates from the NRIS database, but if the ones I got from the county list-article are different, I prefer to use those (because they have been improved by some conscientious editor, relative to the NRIS-supplied coordinates which were originally put into the county list-article). I indicate "source:NOTNRIS2013a" or "source:NRIS2013a", to head off or to call for future improvement of coordinates. Then over in window 2, I bring up the photos document and note the number and date of photos, and in window 1 i add that info. Then in window 2 I bring up the text document. And go back and forth for a while selecting some info to write into the article. When sort of done with the article in window 1, I save it, then open its Talk page. In window 2 I back out twice to get back to the NRHP infobox generator, then I copy-paste the draft Talk page there, and in window 1 I paste that in. I keep the WikiProject STATE and WikiProject NRHP banners, but delete the photo request if I have a photo in the article. Hope this is helpful to some. --Doncram (talk) 18:16, 18 September 2018 (UTC) 14:37, 21 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

When scrolling in a long table, keep headers in view

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This may be outdated? 18:16, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

Preferences -> Gadgets -> Testing and Development -> Make sure that headers of tables remain in view as long as the table is in view (Requires Safari or Chrome).

Editing tables

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  • For adjusting sortable tables, e.g. to sort numbers mixed with number ranges properly, see Help:Sorting. There are now sort types which can be defined for columns, easier than inserting a sorting code in each row, which can work well in some cases.
  • An easy-to-use online wiki table editor is at wikitable.eu5.org.
  • To renumber the rows, after inserting or deleting an entry, in the long NRHP list-tables, there's a tool in the NRHPupdater system. (Explanation how to use it is needed, here.)
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Other useful links include:

  • National Historic Landmarks Program - list of National Historic Landmarks
  • National Register of Historic Places home page
  • National Register of Historic Places.COM - a private website echoing the NRHP's NRIS database, giving listings by state and division within state (counties, parishes, etc.). This is often referred to as "NRHP.COM". It is known to contain systematic errors, due to its programmer(s) not understanding some important nuances of the NRIS database. For example, it gives areas of historic districts that are 10x larger than correct. For another example, it includes as NRHP-listed on a given date, places that were in fact de-listed on that date. It also includes a few locations that were never approved and are still marked "Pending/listed."
  • All WikiProject sub-pages

See also

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